About This Activity
Instructor: Chuck Goergen earned a BS in Chemistry from the University of Detroit. He spent his career of over 40 years at the Savannah River Site working with nuclear materials in laboratories, production, engineering, and projects in numerous facilities across the site. He spent a year on loan to the DOE Office of Nuclear Weapons and has interfaced with many DOE sites and liaised with IAEA. His international work took him to Japan, Austria, the UK, and Russia. He enjoys ancient and military history as well as coin collecting. Description: Silver 8 Reales coins were the mainstay of the Spanish Colonial Realm. Popularized by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, pieces of eight spread throughout the Americas through Caribbean trade, Asia, and exportation of wealth to Spain and Europe. Treasure ships were targets for pirates and victims of storms. Sunken treasure discoveries yield these types of coins. The history timeline of the Spanish conquest of Central and South America, silver mining, and mint establishment will be traced. The making of cob and milled coins of shield, pillar, and bust types took place over a period of 250 years. They were accepted as legal US tender until 1857!
Map & Direction
Business & Education Bldg. Room 144
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471 University Parkway
Aiken, SC
29801
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